Scottish Opera: Puccini’s ‘Il Trittico’
Theatre Royal, Glasgow - 11/03/23
A triumph for Scottish Opera and David McVicar
This was the verdict of the sell-out Theatre Royal audience last night when it gave a standing ovation to the cast and production team of Puccini’s ‘Il Trittico’. Sir David McVicar is a Glaswegian and is one of the leading opera directors in the world, with more opera productions in more opera houses than anyone else. Surprisingly, he has never produced Puccini’s ‘Il Trittico’ before. This may be partly because it is rarely done in opera houses, the challenge of producing three different operas on the same night is one that daunts many opera companies. Therefore it was very brave of Scottish Opera to mount this production (in cooperation with Welsh National Opera) and for McVicar to return to his hometown to do it. I can confidently say that it was a great success in every way; the three contrasting operas that comprise ‘Il Trittico’ were perfectly realized, and what’s more revealed some budding new stars for the opera stage.
Firstly let us praise the ‘Il Trittico’ creative team: first conductor Stuart Stratford who produced magic music from the very big Scottish Opera Orchestra and revealed what a genius Puccini was in these three very different operas, the dark brooding dramatic music of ‘Il Tabarro’, the religious theme of ‘Suor Angelica’ exploding into drama at the end, and the sheer joy and humour of ‘Gianni Schicchi’, with the bonus of one of the greatest operatic arias of all, beautifully delivered by a rising star.
If the music was good it was matched by the excellent designs of all three operas by set designer Charles Edwards, costume designer Hannah Clark, lighting designer Ben Pickersgill, movement director Gareth Mole, all perfectly integrated by McVicar. What was also delightful for me was that these productions were not the vision of some radical “Regietheater” director, wanting to “modernise“ the operas, such as I saw in Berlin recently where Wagner’s Ring Cycle was set in a research lab for brain research! These productions were faithful to the music and the spirit of Puccini. When the barge slid onto the stage of ‘Il Tabarro’ and was swarmed over by dockers we knew we were in for an authentic evening. The set of ‘Suor Angelica’ gave us the feeling of an oppressive monastery but allowed space for the dramatic climax. The great bedroom scene of ‘Gianni Schicchi’ was the star of the opera, allowing its anarchic humour to thrive.
Opera is of course all about the singing and tonight it was consistently of a high standard, with no weak parts and some outstanding performances. ‘Il Tabarro’ was dominated by its principals, Roland Wood superb as the dark brooding barge owner Michele, conveying the menace and passion of the jealous husband. Roland is a favourite with Scottish Opera, particularly his recent Falstaff, also directed by McVicar; this role will certainly enhance his international reputation. His wife, Giorgetta, was wonderfully portrayed by South Korean soprano Sunyoung Seo, making her Scottish Opera debut, who has been making a name for herself in European opera houses. She gave a passionate and vocally ravishing performance, acting well as the wife conflicted with her passion for her lover Luigi. I predict she will become a big star. Luigi was very well sung by Russian tenor, Victor Antipenko, who conveyed the passion of the frustrated lover until he met his bloody end at the hand of Michele. Other parts were sung and importantly well acted, particularly by Louise Winter as La Frugola. Poor Jamie MacDougall was again typecast as Tinca, the drunken docker! Together they created one of the best Il Tabarros I have seen in my 50 years of opera going.
‘Suor Angelica’ is of course a great contrast, the gentle chorus singing of the nuns in the austere setting of the monastery, replacing the docks of ‘Il Tabarro’. As the opera develops, individual characters among the nuns begin to develop, notably Francesca Chiejina as Genovieffa, who sang of the sunlight in the cloisters. She had played a small part in ‘Il Tabarro’ and would play a big part in ‘Gianni Schicchi’. Other parts were very well sung and again the oppressive atmosphere of the monastery was well conveyed. Suor Angelica herself was played by Sunyoung Seo, fresh from her triumph in ‘Il Tabarro’; in this even more stunning performance, again the power and the beauty of the voice conveyed the anguish and passion of the mother who had lost her son, leaving many in the audience wiping away tears at the end. The news of her son’s death was brought to her by her aunt, the Princess, played by the great Scottish soprano Karen Cargill, being her best imperious self. Clearly her character had impressed some of the audience who booed her at curtain call!
In contrast to the tragedies of ‘Il Tabarro’ and ‘Suor Angelica’ we had the delightful humour of ‘Gianni Schicchi’ ; from start to finish this was a delight, from the instant death of Buoso Donati, a great non-singing but very funny performance by Keith Macpherson, to the final words of Gianni Schicchi to the audience, wonderfully played by Roland Wood, this was a delight. All the grasping characters of the Donati family were beautifully played but of course amid all this wonderful buffo opera Puccini popped in one of the greatest opera arias of all time, “O Mia Babbino Caro “. It was wonderfully sung by Francesca Chiejina playing Lauretta, Schicchi’s daughter. She is a Nigerian American soprano who has been part of Covent Garden’s Jette Parker Young Artist programme. She delivered her great aria perfectly and again I think she is a star of the future. Overall it was a delight and you can see the reasoning behind Puccini’s insistence that all three operas be performed on the same night to show the breadth and depth of his music. This Scottish Opera did wonderfully and it was a great tribute as part of their 60th anniversary season. Their founder Sir Alexander Gibson would be proud of tonight’s performance and, at this challenging time for opera and all the arts, Scottish Opera has demonstrated its importance.
There are two more performances of ‘Il Trittico’ in Glasgow on the 15th and 18th of March and two in Edinburgh on the 22 and 25th March.
